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At the All-Star break this week, 80 percent of the Clippers’ opening day rotation was somewhere
other than Columbus and Huntington Park.

Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin are pitching in the rotation for the parent Cleveland Indians. T.J.
House went to short-season Mahoning Valley over the break so that he could start a game there
before returning to Cleveland.

Travis Banwart, meanwhile, left to sign a contract with the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball
Organization, leaving Tyler Cloyd as the last original 2014 starting pitcher on the Clippers.

The seeming upheaval hasn’t shown in the results, however. The Clippers restart the final part
of the season tonight at Huntington Park against the Indianapolis Indians. The two teams are tied
atop the International League West.

The Clippers got there by winning the final four games of a six-game series against the Indians
ahead of the break on the road. Now the Clippers and Indians will play four more games against each
other in Columbus.

“You kind of hate going into a break playing as well as we have been,” Clippers manager Chris
Tremie said. “We’ve been a streaky team all year as far as wins and losses go.

“We’ve played pretty consistent defensively all along. We’ve gotten really hot offensively at
times and not-so-hot at other times. Overall, our pitching has been good.”

The pitching cupboard has never been wholly bare. Danny Salazar, who is nearing the 2013 form
that got him promoted to Cleveland, will start tonight.

The Tribe also optioned Zach McAllister to Columbus on Tuesday to join Cloyd and veteran Kyle
Davies in the rotation.

But younger arms Toru Murata, Gabriel Arias and Jordan Cooper came up from double-A Akron to
start games in Indy and helped the Clippers through the test of two doubleheaders in three days.
The boosts were similar to what third baseman Giovanny Urshela and outfielder Tyler Holt have
supplied since their promotions from Akron earlier this season.

So Tremie wasn’t surprised with how the team has responded after losing Bauer, Tomlin, House and
Banwart.

“If you asked me that question coming out of spring training, then yeah, I would have been
surprised,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of character on this team. This doesn’t surprise me at
all."

Cleveland optioned reliever Vinnie Pestano to the Clippers ahead of the break. He is expected to
be on hand tonight. Indianapolis also will have reinforcements: IL All-Star first baseman Matt
Hague and outfielder Jaff Decker have returned from stints with the Pittsburgh Pirates.